FASTPAM areas

In order to process files with FASTPAM, the user must first create a FASTPAM environment and a FASTPAM I/O area pool.
During this process, system resources are prepared, and some preparatory actions such as prevalidating and possibly fixing user areas (parameter list, I/O buffers) are performed by the system.

The facility to create a FASTPAM environment and a FASTPAM I/O area pool in resident memory provides the user with an instrument to reserve system resources for an unrestricted amount of time. Special authorization is required for this purpose, however (see "FASTPAM authorization" (Processing files with FASTPAM)

In the following description of the FASTPAM access method, the terms “FASTPAM environment” and “FASTPAM I/O area pool” are occasionally abbreviated and simply referred to as the “environment” and the “I/O area pool”.